Monday, July 30, 2012

Proposed Bill Could Tax Bay Area Drivers a Dime per Mile Driven

"Once every four years, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) assembles and presents plans for improving traffic flow over the next 25 years. This year, as with years prior, the MTC needed to file an environmental impact report (EIR) with each proposed traffic-reduction proposal, which requires that they come up with several alternatives, should the original be too eco-harmful. One of the five options this year is to tax Bay Area drivers for the miles they drive in hopes of reducing driver traffic.

The bill, called Vehicle Miles Traveled, would require drivers to install tracking devices that would record driving distance. The price of the taxation would depend on what time of day the vehicle was on the road, but the cost could be as high as $0.10 per mile."